Deep Water Exploration

Posted on Sun Mar 12th, 2023 @ 11:50pm by Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Lieutenant Rowena "Rena" Campbell & Lieutenant JG Aurora House of Kor & Lieutenant S'Tera & Director Roman s'Lovok PhD & Lieutenant JG William Verhoeven
Edited on on Tue Mar 14th, 2023 @ 10:45pm

4,108 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Good Will Tour: Mountain Home [Part Two]
Location: Triton Seabase
Timeline: MD14: 0700 hours

Max adjusted his bathing suit, a sort of quick drying board shorts, the top third of which was red and the bottom two thirds was black. Otherwise, Max had nothing but a face mask and a snorkel. He would be working at the top layer of the ocean, more for his curiosity. Looking over the rail, he could already see the small octopus, Tom, swimming at the surface. He smiled.

Aurora wore a diamond patterned mauve dress type bathing suit (not that she NEEDED one, but for modesty's sake, she wore a specially designed one when she was around the others). After her run-in with the freakies, Aurora also sported a special pouch with antivenom hypos...she wasn't planning on spending anymore unnecessary time in Sickbay anytime soon! Aurora twirled around in excitement!

“It’s infectious,” Max said to the newly minted Lieutenant. “Your excitement I mean!” He gave her a quick glance and a chuckle before stepping to the stairs that descended into the dark waters below.

Aurora grinned and nodded shyly. Being promoted so soon was pretty crazy, but Aurora was ready to tackle it!

Taking each step cautiously barefooted, Max also tethered himself to the base, just so he didn’t drift too far away. It was much like his surfing tether attached to a loop on his swim suit, so as to not impede his swimming. Sitting on the last stair, he tugged on his flipper, adjusted his mask and snorkel and allowed Tom to hitch a ride on his calf, before slipping into the water.

It seemed Tom had not only taken a liking to his commanding officer, but now felt like his personal, four and a half kilogram security guard. Somehow, that made them both feel better…

S'tera walked up to the bunch. She had her diving equipment on and was ready to go. "Hi guys! Aurora! Haven't had chance to congratulate you on your promotion. Congrats!" she said. "Hiya Max!"

"Hi S'tera!

Thank you!" Aurora grinned happily.

Max waved, snorkel in mouth and just a second before he was already dipped into the water. Tom scrambled up along his chest and down his right arm, where he wrapped six of his arms, leaving two to trail behind in case there were nibbles to catch.

Aurora took a deep breath, and dove in, relishing in the coolness of the water.

[Wow...this place just keeps getting more beautiful!] Aurora thought as she shot through the water like a torpedo, seeing color and life most spectacular!

Rena felt a bit out of place. She wasn't a water person, which was weird, considering where she was. HOWEVER, she had an interest in science and sea life-it had always fascinated her-AND she was losing her mind in her office alone, so she jumped at the opportunity. She had taken some sea-sickness stuff that Doc had given her, and hoped for the best. She was wearing a wetsuit-she didn't like wearing bathing suits in public-and a helmet. Ok, so she was a bit afraid of what she might find, but she was also excited. Ever since her father had taken them to an Aquarium in San Francisco on an R&R, she had LOVED the ocean life. To swim with the sharks was her dream. "Hey, S'tera! How are you?" She greeted the woman warmly.

"Hey Rena! Great to see you! I am good! Always happy to be exploring! So much to find here. I always wanting to find something new!" S'tera replied. "So what have you been up to?"

Rena smiled. "Work. A lot of work. The Captain keeps me on my toes. I have been seeing everyone for their yearly psych exams, and it's a lot of paperwork!" She sighed. "I am looking forward to seeing cute animals to give my brain a break."

Below decks, Callan moved to the smaller tactical submarine. For the few days they would be exploring the ocean, this one had been adjusted for deep sea scientific exploration. A few quick module swap outs and the tactical sub was altered to a scientific mini-submarine.

“Will,” Callan said, looking up at the ensign who was an outstanding Academy graduate, still looked fifteen. “How are we doing on prelaunch?”

“I’ll have prelaunch completed in two minutes, Lieutenant,” Will answered, his Dutch accent barely noticeable even as he pushed back the blond hair flipping into his blue eyes.

Cal smiled. He’d already told the ensign to call him by his name, but the kid just wouldn’t. Climbing up into the sub’s piloting seat, Cal brought the sub’s consoles online. “All right, Will, let’s go mate,” the Australian called down.

Will climbed into the submarine and gave a low whistle of, impressed. “She’s mint, isn’t she?” Cal asked.

=^= Submarine Whiskey, you are go for launch. =^= the base’s flight controller acknowledged their ability to launch.

“Acknowledged,” Callan said as the canopy closed and sealed with a distinct hiss. “Submarine Whiskey is a go on launch in three, two, one.”

The small black submarine launched down a chute at high speed, white lights flashing at regular intervals until they were splashed down in the dark water. Bright lights flashed on, illuminating the darkness around them, despite the sun visible from above.

“All systems normal,” Will said, facing toward the rear while Callan watched forward. “Sensors at full, tracking four schools of fish and something slightly larger below.”

“Does it appear to be a threat?” Cal asked. As he touched his own consoles to take a closer look at the larger animal.

“Reading a large mammal, it appears to be a version of this planet’s whale. It’s a non-threat, sir. Baleen ridges in the mouth indicate a plankton eater.”

“Still good to signal the group topside, let them know we’ve got a large, non-threatening whale type creature,” Cal responded. “I’m getting Director s’Lovok and Captain Culver on coms.”

Roman was in the multilab observing all the Dive teams visual feeds on many holographic displays. His combadge chirped. "This is s'Lovok?" he answered.

“Director, this is Lieutenant Callan Armidale reporting a large, Baleen-type whale approximately twelve meters below our current location at nine meters. There doesn’t appear to be any threat to the current exploratory teams, sir.”

While Cal and and Will were watching Big Mama. Junior had decided to wander off. Aurora was meandering along when..."EEEIPS! What the!? Oh...hello there little one! I'm sorry I scared you. You scared me a little bit too. Where's you're Mother, hmm?" Aurora asked as she looked around. Just then, Aurora's comwatch chirped with the sighting.

"Aurora to Will and Cal...I just met a little whale calf. I think you guys might have met his Mother," Aurora chuckled as the calf nuzzled her and cooed a little.

“Acknowledged, Lieutenant. Can you bring the baby here, or should we signal through that Mama needs to come more to the surface?” Callan asked. “Either way, we’re going to remain as support. You never know when it could be a trap, Aurora.”

"Thanks, Cal. After my last encounter, I'm trying to think safety first. If you can head her this a way, that'd be great! If not, I'll get him started that a way.

S'tera came over to Aurora. "Hey, who's your friend?" she asked.

“Hi, S'tera! His name's Bubbles...and he loves cuddles!" Aurora giggled as Bubbles nuzzled his head into first Aurora's then S'tera's chest's.

"Awww, he's sweet! Hiya Bubbles!" S'tera said. "Now this is the highlight of my job! The little ones always seem the sweetest!"

Rena was swimming behind the other's, kind of zoned out. It was nice to get out of her office and out of her head, and spend time with ocean animals. She heard her comms buzz; it wasn't for her, but she could hear. "I WANT TO SEE," she said, swimming faster. "Can I come to where you are? Where are you? BUBBLES!!"

It was hard to ignore Rena on the comms. "Rena over here" S'tera said.

Rena followed S'tera's directions, and was able to spot the tiny whale calf. "Is it safe to pet him?" That's how Rena would die, petting something she really shouldn't but it was worth it!!

Bubbles loved the attention and made cooing noises as he rolled over.

"Hey, beautiful! Well this is Bubbles and he's very friendly!" S'tera said.

Rena cooed with delight. "What a cutie!!" She pet him once, carefully, making sure to only touch exposed skin and move slowly so she didn't frighten him.

Aurora giggled all the more as Bubbles cooed and bobbed his head...almost as if he were excited to meet Rena too!

Max had pulled off his mask and snorkel while treading water. The communication came through the device on his wrist that appeared to be a chronometer. He acknowledged the readings. “I recommend informing the entire team, Director. I’ll leave that to you,” Max explained.

"Understood Captain," Roman answered. He switched to another channel by tapping his combadge twice to reply to the Operations Chief. "Lieutenant Armidale, has the whale noticed us? Is the whale moving? If so what direction?" He double tapped his combadge again to return to the open frequency. "s'Lovok to all dive teams, caution do not approach the large mammal until confirmed friend or foe. Whiskey team will be making that determination," he announced as he brought up the sub’s feed of the large whale like creature.

“There’s been no indication that the whale has taken notice of us,” Callan reported as Will watched its movements carefully. “It would seem she’s swimming in circles as she vocalizes. I’d guess she’s calling for her baby.”

“I’m going to use the EM shields to drive her upward. Just make her uncomfortable for a short time until the baby can hear her call. Ladies, I wouldn’t get too friendly with ‘Bubbles’. Here comes Mama. Clear the area, I repeat, clear the area.”

Max touched his own com device as he kicked his flippers. “All crew back aboard the seabase. I want a roll call once we’re back aboard. You have five minutes”

"Oh well, Aurora. Looks like swim time with Bubbles is over. Guess we'd better get back!" S'tera said.

"Looks like it...well, Bubbles, your mom's on her way, so just stay here and wait for her ok? Me and my friends have to go back to our ship now. Goodbye cutie!" Aurora cooed as she stroked Bubble's head one last time. Bubbles made a cooing sound and floated back a little, waving a fin to the three of them. Aurora decided to be the 'caboose' of the group...in case there was trouble...which she prayed there wouldn't be.

Rena sighed. "I guess it's time. Bye, Bubbles!!" She blew a kiss to the calf as she turned back the way she came. Luckily, they hadn't been too far out and Rena was a strong swimmer.

“At the first sign she’s going to attack you, Whiskey team, withdraw,” Roman instructed. “The mother is using sonar?” he asked, she could be using something unknown to them. This was a different world after all.

Cal paused the outgoing conversation and tapped Will. Both seats swiveled so they could look at each other. “Do you think this guy’s on the level?” Cal wondered. “Like maybe he’s got a screw loose?”

“Maybe he just doesn’t have the specialty for it, Lieutenant. But, if you ask me, I’d guess he’s not the brightest crayon in the box.”

Cal gave a good chuckle. Getting Will to say that much was a damn near miracle. “Alright,” Cal said seriously, “Let’s get back on the task of making sure we don’t become Jonah and the Whale.”

“Coms back on, Lieutenant Armidale.”

Max pulled off his flippers on the bottom stairs, hanging them over the rail on the fifth step up. He’d made it back to the deck, a light colored wood that still seemed to heat up nicely. It worked for him as he laid down on his back to absorb some of the gentle heat.

Max was very confused. Suddenly there was talk of sonar and an attack. That would be highly unusual for a baleen whale. “Lieutenant Armidale, Ensign Verhoeven, can you confirm whether the whale-like mammal has sonar or even echolocation?”

Cal listened to the whale songs as she sang. They were a number of ticks and clicks similar to the whale songs of Earth, but not anything that would indicate any danger.

“Captain, based on a side-by-side study, we can assume these baleen whales use a similar echolocation location device of calls and clicks which help to clarify the image of their underwater world. Just like on Earth, I expect there’s no danger from this innate ability.

Further, the mother has been scanned for defensive and offensive weaponry. Aside from tough skin and a thick layer of blubber, she has almost no way to start a fight, and just enough fat to lose one, sir.”

On deck, Max could see the growing line of people at the primary ladder. “Come around back,” he directed people, “come around back.”

Aurora decided to hold back and keep an eye on everyone as well as try and calm the whale duo.

"I'm so sorry for all of this you two. Someone in our group isn't as used to sea life as I am," Aurora soothed, floating just close enough to lay a hand on both the Mother and Bubbles, but not enough to crowd them. Both made noises of acknowledgment, before Mama told Bubbles it was time to go.

"Goodbye! I hope our next meeting's a lot less stressful!" Aurora called as the two disappeared into the blue.

[I'm gonna have to have a very long talk with that landlubber when I find him!] Aurora thought angrily as she waited where a second set of stairs was...not inclined to activate it out of sheer will power. If Aurora had gone aboard right then...the 'landlubber' would have been in BIG TROUBLE!

Max climbed over the rail and jumped back in. “If you were really being chased by a predator, half of you would be dead waiting on these stairs. If you come around back, you can activate a second set of stairs on this side and a third set of the stairs on the other side of the primary stairs.”

Max pressed the button on his side and a second set of stairs descended into the water. Max would also show them the one person at-a-time stair step that would lift them on a rope-type stair.

"Sairal, swim over here." Max waited until the massive alien Pahkwa-thanh was nearby the console. "Press the orange button to release the foot step, but always wait until you’re under the boat."

Max and Sairal, moved under the boat before pressing the orange button on the bulkhead. “Go ahead. Once you’ve got your feet under you, press the blue button and off you go.”

The tethered stair was sturdy and fast, hauling two hundred twenty seven kilograms of reptile to the deck in no time.

"And last but not least, we have the ten hydrotubes. I’ve been wanting to try these myself. The base has up to fifteen hydrotubes total. Same concept, line your body up, press the button when green and don’t flail your arms and legs on this particular piece of equipment."

Max climbed inside the tube. The button was green and he pressed the it; head first, arms and legs tucked to the middle as tight as he could get them. A moment he was there and then he wasn’t. The door slid open and deposited him inside the seabase. ’Shit! We’re going to have to work on that,’ he thought. ’That was an overreaction to a baby whale and its harmless mother!’

He took the towel offered to him and facepalmed right into it. Max put the octopus, Tom, into a small container that attached to his own environment. Finding a corridor, Max continued to walk until he found a room titled linens, towels and other sundries. The door opened and he slammed his head against a clean pile of towels before screaming at the top of his lungs!

Max felt perfectly happy for about five minutes until he looked down to see a five year old looking back up at him. Like Max had just done, he crammed his face into the clean towels and started shouting, “Muddafuhka, muddafuhka, muddafuhka.” before launching into the worst diatribe of curse words accumulated in fifty years across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.”

With a heavy sigh, Max asked, “How much to make this go away?”

The little boy just smiled, pulled a lollipop out of his pocket and left the room. Max looked out the door, watching as the five year old sucked his lollipop and happily skipped down the long white corridor, singing “Muddafuhka!” His new favorite song.

Max wrapped his towel around his waist and began walking in the opposite direction, the kid gave him a weird feeling. “Deck six,” he ordered, having found the nearest turbolift. If Roman wanted to continue working with his people in the water, that would be his prerogative; just as it was Max’s prerogative to call it quits for the day and join the bridge crew.

Max would also have three other prerogatives. One, develop a plan for the team’s safety before they decided to go on another research dive. Two, teach all crew how to re-enter the ship safely and quickly. Three, develop a training guide for all future crew on how to utilize the base’s systems.

Rena looked around, lost. Where was the Captain? As the others came by, she asked. "Has anyone seen Captain Culver?" Zoinks, what was he doing NOW??

“He used one of the hydrotubes,” a crewman answered Rena’s question. “I think he was using the crowd at the stairs as a teaching moment as to how to get out of the water quickly…so we don’t get eaten if this was a real threat?” The crewman shrugged and looked disturbed at the thought.

Rena sighed. "Of COURSE he did, but did he bother to tell any of us?" With a long-suffering sigh, she tapped her comms badge. "Captain..." she said, in a sing-songy voice. "Please report to the tidal pool to show us how the emergency tube thingy works. Hydrotube, I think he said." She waited for his response, and tapped into the others. "I just radioed the bridge, Captain used a hydro tube to beat us back. Anyone know how that works?" She was just the counselor; she didn't know much about the structure of the base because she didn't need to.

Max heard the soft chirp of his combadge and touched it on the desk. “Captain Culver, go.” He was in the middle of drying himself off. And changing into

"Stupid comms. I just went...did you receive??"

“I’m sorry, Counselor. I’m calling it quits for the day. We’ll be scheduling a shipwide demonstration on how to use all systems to evacuate the base as well as return to it. I think I’ll take over movie night to do that,” Max decided as a form of double punishment that the crew should lose an event they enjoy for an event they most definitely will not enjoy.

Rena shook her head. "Ok. Rena out." She left to go back the way she'd come. Turbolifts for her; and if the Captain thought he was doing something cute, he'd have another thing coming.

Roman shrugged off the stupid moment about the sonar and watched as the teams returned to Triton at the Captain's order. He had witnessed on another display the Whiskey perform their motions. The little subs were pretty cool Roman had to admit and soon would play with one.

He went back to going over all the data their sensors recorded during the event.

Max walked across the bridge, and back out onto the aft deck. “How’s my head count going?” Max asked. A young man approached with a PaDD. It showed Lieutenant JG Aurora still off deck and in the water. He was slightly peeved by that. Lieutenant Armidale and Ensign Verhoeven were still safely studying and following the whale-like creatures, an order that Director s’Lovok had made and Max didn’t disagree with.

Max addressed the rest of the crew on deck. “Movie night is cancelled this week. There will be an official notice for the entire crew. Obviously, you all need training on how to get back aboard the ship with alacrity.” Max pulled the sunglasses from his collar and put them on. “Get yourselves cleaned up and then clean up this mess,” Max pointed at the deck.

A general mob of moans and groans came from the deck crew. Max stood his place and crossed his arms over his chest. This was not up for discussion. The entire crew should be made aware of all ways back inside the base without lingering like a queue at a waterpark set of stairs.

Rena made a slight face, her sense of justice slightly bothered. If they didn't *know* about the tube, how they could expect to USE it? Still, she just shrugged. She'd bring it up later, when they were all calmed down and things were settled. She looked at the others.

Max tapped his combadge. “Lieutenant Aurora, please get aboard this base as quickly as you can. I’d like to talk to you as soon as you’re aboard.” Max allowed his annoyance to come through in his tone.

Aurora jerked at the anger she heard the Captain's voice. "As soon as everyone's aboard, I'll be up in a flash, sir," Aurora kept her voice professional...but she was a bit miffed by the whole thing.

Rena glanced at Max. "Do you want me on standby?"

Max looked at Rena and knew she was providing her skills as a counselor to mediate the situation. Max was clearly feeling angry, and Rena must have been picking up on that, but sometimes a CO wanted to feel angry.

“You disagree with my decisions so far,” he noted, feeling her own projected emotions. “Now you want to calm me down before I talk to Aurora? Why?”

Black pupils lit up with a fire, but she forced herself to remain calm. "I disagree with punishing the whole for the mistakes of a few, but I recognize that you're the Captain, and it's your perogative.

“And I meant more or less for Lt. Aurora, not yourself. She's far more fragile than you are." In her opinion, of course. She projected more calm onto the deck - mostly for her OWN benefit than anyone else's. She needed a walk or something.

"I'll be in Medical if you decide you DO need me. I have work to finish," she said, retreating to her office. She'd change her clothes there; she kept a fresh uniform on hand, always, just in case.

She savagely pulled her black braids out of their constraints, and let her black curls fall to her shoulders. A few more exhalations later, and she was OK. She repeated herself a little louder, in case anyone needed her suddenly.

"I am free to see anyone if they need me, as well. Otherwise, I am in Medical, doing paperwork for the rest of the afternoon." And that damned training module she'd been procrastinating about would need to be done that night.

Max watched Rena walk off with curiosity. ’What the hell just happened?’ he wondered. He placed his hands on his hips while he waited for Aurora to join him.

Aurora finally got aboard, and quickly made her way to where the Captain waited. "Lt. JG Aurora reporting as ordered," Aurora stood at attention, hoping she wasn't in too much trouble.

“Walk with me, Lieutenant?” Max asked gently, despite Rena’s words.

Til now, clearly Roman failed to notice any social events for the crew as this was the first time he heard about a night for movies. Though he found himself wondering about what movie would have played.

’There was a movie night?’ Roman wondered as he continued to sort out the base’s sensor data.

 

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